Unfortunately, the ecosystem of the planet upon which we live suffers from the advances of society. The air, water and even the earth itself become more polluted each day in a manner which tends to significantly decrease the life sustaining quality of the living biomass which remains in our ecosystem. One particularly distressing factor is the abuse being wrought upon the fresh water system of the earth by modern animal farming techniques and the polluting effects of intense concentrations of animal excrement containing phosphorus and nitrogen products.
Traditionally, waste excrement generated through animal farming has been used as a crop fertilizer. The traditional farmer gathers concentrations of excrement waste from animal barns, feeding stations and the like and typically spreads such on fields used for growing food for the animals to consume. Thus, in the traditional sense of ecologically balanced animal farming, animal waste excrement is allowed to decay in the field, the elements of the decay such as unstable phosphorus and nitrogenous products are taken up by growing crop plants and the crop plants are harvested for food to be eaten by the animals in an efficient recycle of elements which occurs over and over again to the benefit of all and perceived detriment of none.
Modern animal farming practices, particularly modern feedlot and dairy farming practices, have detrimentally effected the ecological balance of traditional animal farming. The efficiencies of animal farming have changed and modern techniques concentrate larger numbers of animals in smaller areas leaving larger amounts of waste excrement to be managed by distribution to smaller land areas. The larger amounts of food required by the larger number of animals and intense feeding practices of modern animal farming cannot typically be sustained by crop plant growth in the manure distribution fields utilized by the farmer and thus supplemental cattle feed containing concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen must be imported from distant producers. Though animal food plants are typically still being grown on the manure distribution fields, the larger amounts of manure from larger numbers of animals provides fertilizer levels which cannot be fully assimilated by plant growth and the solids become unstabilized phosphorus and nitrogen rich beyond what may be appropriate to sustain flourishing field plant life.
Rain, falling on the phosphorus and nitrogen rich soil carry unstabilized nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements garnered from the waste excrement from the soil and with the flow of water through drainage ditches, groundwater currents and the like, eventually fresh water aquifers and other fresh water sources are found to be at higher phosphorus and nitrogen levels than is desired.
The problem of fresh water pollution by phosphorus and nitrogen content may be exacerbated by an accompanying concentration of toxic materials. Concentrations of toxic materials, which may have been used as insecticides or herbicides, including heavy metals and the like, may be typically part of the animal food intake and though not generally harmful to the animal or the animal product being farmed, end up being further concentrated in the animals excrement which is distributed to the field and eventually permeate the soil and are carried to the fresh water aquifers by distribution of the manure. The toxic materials are eventually carried along with phosphorus, nitrogen and heavy metals to the fresh water aquifer and the like thus spreading through the environment and further destabilizing the local ecosystem.
Various solutions which have been proposed to solve the ecological problem posed by modern animal farming, but have been judged to be incomplete or so specialized that they only serve to change or postpone the problem.
For example, it has been proposed that complex mechanical systems be installed to provide manageable manure slurries and that systems be installed by the farmer to enable spraying the manure slurry on differing land areas in a rotating manner to reduce the impact of concentration. It has also been proposed to isolate manure in depositories secure from rain water run-off until the decaying process has produced a concentrated desirable humus which then can be commercially sold or otherwise distributed to non-impacted localities. Both of these proposals present odor problems, require constant manpower to accomplish, do not significantly resolve the migration problem of unstabilized phosphorus and nitrogen and have not enjoyed significant success.
The present invention addresses the problems associated with animal waste excrement handling by providing a means to resolve ecological problems associated with the migration of unstabilized phosphorus and nitrogen, through the efficient bioconversion of waste excrement materials into stable, economically and/or ecologically beneficial materials.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide an ecologically suitable means for managing animal waste excrement.
It is another object to provide an improved process for the biological transformation of animal wastes, toxins or other waste materials into economically suitable materials.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process to create a biologically active, ecologically stable, humus material through the bioconversion of animal excrement.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a process to create a biologically active, and/or a nutrient-rich, organic soil.
These and other objects will be apparent from the following description of the invention.